RETURNING SIMANGA BEATS FRANK

SIDVOKODVO – Boxer Simanga Shiba is back to his winning ways.

He has been absent from the boxing ring due to work commitments and his return was felt first hand by amateur boxer Frank Gamedze who succumbed to a 1-2 defeat on Sunday during the Boxing Day Tournament held at the Tum’s Water world Hotel at Sidvokodvo. Experience, calculated movement and agility were his outstanding tactics and despite having been active in local tournaments recently, Gamedze was no match for the ‘Boar’ as Shiba is affectionately known.

The first round was a balanced match with both boxers alternating good shots, but tables turned upon return as Shiba leveled a saliva-sapping upper cut on Gamedze, capitalising on his unsteady grip and balance of the feet on the canvas. Gamedze’s height betrayed him, allowing the hog to plant double jabs on the ribs and earned more points to land him the victory despite Gamedze regaining strength in the final round. Shiba went for the jugular in the last 20 seconds of the third round, and a slight lapse on Gamedze’s defense was all that the ‘Boar’ needed to hook and jab him for maximum points. It was a learning curve for Gamedze and a moment of reincarnation for the returning champion.

Spirit

On the day, Shiba reunited with his coach Samuel Tsambokhulu, who played a huge role in instilling the fighting spirit accompanied by competitive boxing tactics to bring home a bronze medal from the Commonwealth Games back in 2012. Shiba said his focus would be on the development of junior boxers to help produce champions that would conquer on international stages. “I am returning to support development. We want to build the youth and we had a discussion with some of the senior boxers like Thabiso Dlamini to work together on this project. Our boxers acquire their coaches’ speed, but can’t match outside competition so that is what we want to focus on,” Shiba said.

Eswatini Boxing Association (EBA) President Webster Lukhele welcomed Shiba and urged all existing boxing clubs to have proper structures as there would be visitations to ensure that they adhered to this requirement. “I would like to thank all the sponsors who collaborated with EBA in the organisation of this tournament. This will now be an annual event and we hope to make it bigger and better,” Lukhele said. He further thanked everyone who contributed to the success of the event including sponsors, spectators that came in numbers to support the event as well as members of the different media houses.   

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: